Inspire Yourself With Sport!

Inspire yourself with sport

Inspiration for website

In September our computers teacher Mrs. Gleeson explained the eir Junior Spiders competition; Kara and I knew immediately that we wanted to focus on mental health and sport. Both of us have seen in our own families how mental health can affect family life. Walking down the corridors in school we hear a lot of people joking about mental health saying things like “Ah I’m OCD I have to organise my locker,” when somebody who actually has OCD could be listening. On social media I see a lot of people share posts from “Depression Quotes” pages which romanticise having a very serious illness. We wanted to show people the realities of mental health and remove stigma surrounding conversation about mental health. We are both very sporty; I do hockey, running and rowing but my true passion is rugby. Kara is very passionate about Gaelic football and follows sport teams very devoutly.

We really wanted to show how sport has reduced our stress levels and can help do the same for other teenagers. Sport can be especially beneficial for exam students as it gives them an escape.

Our website

Our website covers the topics of……

1. Depression
2. Anxiety
3. C.D
4. Bipolar disorder
5. Eating disorder
6. Drug and alcohol abuse
7. Little things you can do to improve your mental health
8. Sport/Working out
9. Helplines

Experience with technology

Before going into this competition neither one of us had much experience with technology. We had one failed entry into the Irish Angus Beef schools competition and we didn’t even have twitter! Entering this competition has allowed us to learn how to build a website, make videos and promote our message on social media.

Making and editing videos proved particularly challenging for us, looking at the three videos we’ve made together this year-two of them to promote our website, the quality and content gradually improves. This year we’ve learned what editing software is best to use and how to use it. Just last week we discovered adobe, an editing tool that allows you to add footage, record voiceovers and add music and text. Over the year our confidence has greatly improved and we have become more comfortable both on and off camera.

The future

The future is still a mystery to both of us. I would like to go into law but this competition has definitely made me think about technology as a much more possible carer option. Kara would like to go into physiotherapy or be a vet but is still not certain what she wants to do.

Aims for our website

The aims of our website are to

• Reduce stigma from mental health discussion.
• Promote sport among teenagers.
• Give teenagers access to mental health helplines.
• Make people aware of the facts about mental illness.